Easter, St. Gianna and Blessed John Paul

“Christ my hope is arisen!” John Paul II was a living witness to Easter joy and the Divine Mercy message, all of which we celebrate at his beatification this weekend.

I never went to World Youth Day, but John Paul’s writing was a focus of a marriage and family class I took in college, and his teaching was prominent at my college Newman Center (St. John’s Catholic Newman Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), in my life and the lives of all of my young adult Catholic friends who are participating in all sorts of ways in the New Evangelization: as journalists, Catholic teachers (including my sister), Focus (Fellowship of Catholic University Students) missionaries, physicians and other health-care professionals, youth ministers, faith-filled parents and spouses, etc.

I was out of college when Benedict was elected, after all. So JP2 is the Pope I grew up with. His outreach to the faithful remains fresh in my mind. His promotion of a culture of life and unwavering proclamation of Church teaching remains strong in all of our hearts and minds — and resonates within the culture at large.

As John Paul said, “What really matters in life is that we are loved by Christ and that we love him in return. In comparison to the love of Jesus, everything else is secondary. And, without the love of Jesus, everything is useless.”

Comments

It was so funny to see this pop up in my Reader! We share the same name, and I also posted today about Saint Gianna.

I love that photo of her.

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About Amy Smith

Amy Smith is the Register's associate editor. She started writing for the Register in 2005 and joined the staff as copy editor in 2008. Her writing has appeared in various other Catholic publications, including Faith & Family, St. Anthony Messenger and Columbia magazines. She has a master’s degree in journalism and a B.A. in English.